Sunday, April 19, 2015

Today in History for April 19, 2015

Captain James Cook

April 19, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft
trials, Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey and Mary Warren were
examined. Deliverance Hobbs confessed to practicing witchcraft. Mary Warren
reversed her statement made in early April and rejoined the accusers.

April 19, 1764 - The English Parliament banned the American
colonies from printing paper money.

April 19, 1770 - Captain James Cook, who at the time held
the rank of lieutenant, sighted the eastern coast of what is now Australia and
is credited with discovering New South Wales, Australia. Cook originally named
the land Point Hicks.

April 19, 1775 – The American Revolutionary War began with
an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord. The
first shots of the war were fired when British regulars encountered a group of
American militiamen at Lexington.

April 19, 1782 – John Adams secured the Dutch Republic's
recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which
he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.

April 19, 1802 - The Spanish reopened the New Orleans port
to American merchants.

April 19, 1840 – Confederate solider Joseph Franklyn Watson
was born in Wilcox County, Ala. He was taken prisoner at Gettysburg on July 2,
1863 and forwarded to Point Lookout, Md. He was paroled on Feb. 14, 1865. He
died in Brewton on June 18, 1926 and was buried in Union Cemetery in Brewton.

April 19, 1861 – During the Civil War, the Baltimore riot of
1861 occurred as a pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacked United States Army
troops marching through the city. Four Union soldiers and nine civilians were
killed.

April 19, 1861 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a
Proclamation of Blockade against southern ports. The blockade kept the rural
South from being able to stay well supplied for the duration of the war.

April 19, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought
at Dickson Station, Ala.

April 19, 1864 – A Confederate operation against Unionists
began in Marion County, Ala.

April 19, 1865 – The funeral service for Abraham Lincoln was
held in the East Room of the White House. His body then began a two-week
journey back to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois.

April 19, 1897 - The first Boston Marathon was held. It was
the first race of its type in the U.S. John J.
McDermott of New York won with a time of 2:55:10.

April 19, 1899 - Author James Saxon Childers was born in
Birmingham, Ala.

April 19, 1904 – J.B. Barnett Sr. opened Monroe County Bank
for the first time on the ground floor of the old pre-Civil War courthouse,
between two present day courthouses in Monroeville, Ala. The bank moved to
southwest corner of the square in 1909.

April 19, 1909 – The Rev. S.O.Y. Ray, the newly elected
financial secretary of the Orphans Home in Evergreen, Ala., delivered a sermon
at the Baptist Church.

April 19, 1914 – Around 3:30 a.m. (on a Sunday morning), a
wood frame house belonging to Mrs. C.S. Rabb on Perryman Street near the
cemetery in Evergreen, Ala. caught fire and burned down. Flames spread quickly
and the home’s occupants barely escaped with their lives, all contents were
destroyed, building a total loss.

April 19, 1927 – The Greenville (Ala.) Grammar School was
“gutted by fire” early on this Sunday morning. Nearly 400 students attended the
school, which was located on Commerce Street, between Church and Pine Streets.
The cause of the fire was unknown.

April 19, 1927 – Actress Mae West was sentenced to 10 days
in prison for her role in the play “Sex,” which she also wrote and directed.

April 19, 1931 – Poet Etheridge Knight was born in Corinth,
Miss.

April 19, 1939 - Connecticut approved the Bill of Rights for
the U.S. Constitution after 148 years.

April 19, 1949 – The fourth annual Conecuh County Fat Calf
Show was held in Evergreen, Ala.

April 19, 1957 – Wayne Davis, a small boy from New
Brunswick, N.J who was visiting his grandparents near Evergreen, Ala., was
killed on this night when he ran into the path of a car 5.3 miles north of Evergreen
on Highway 83.

April 19, 1958 - The San Francisco Giants and the Los
Angeles Dodgers played the first Major League Baseball game on the West Coast.
This was also the first game in the Los Angeles Coliseum.

April 19, 1959 – Astronomer Morris K. Jessup contacted Dr.
Manson Valentine and arranged to meet with him the next day, claiming to have
made a breakthrough regarding an event known as the Philadelphia Experiment.
Jessup would be found dead the next day.

April 19, 1960 – Major League Baseball uniforms began
displaying player's names on their backs.

April 19, 1960 – Decatur, Ala. native Marv
Breeding made his Major League debut, taking the field for the Baltimore
Orioles

April 19, 1966 – The California Angels opened Anaheim
Stadium against the Chicago White Sox.

April 19, 1968 - In Chicago, the National League approved
expansion to Montreal and San Diego. Dallas-Fort Worth failed in its bid for a National League franchise.

April 19, 1981 – NFL strong safety Troy Polamalu was born in
Garden Grove, Calif. He went on to play at Southern California and the
Pittsburgh Steelers.

April 19, 1987 – “The Simpsons” premiered as a short cartoon
on “The Tracey Ullman Show.”

April 19, 1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian
building outside Waco, Texas ended when a fire broke out. Eighty-one people
die, including 17 children. Nine of the Branch Davidians escaped the fire.

April 19, 1995 – The Oklahoma City bombing occurred as the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed, killing 168, including
19 children. It was the worst bombing on U.S. territory. Timothy McVeigh was
found guilty of the bombing on June 2, 1997.

April 19, 1996 - Dateline NBC conducted an interview with
former astronaut Edgar Mitchell during which he discussed meeting with
officials from three countries who claimed to have had personal encounters with
extraterrestrials. He offered his opinion that the evidence for such
"alien" contact was "very strong" and
"classified" by governments, who were covering up visitations and the
existence of alien beings' bodies in places such as Roswell, New Mexico. He
further claimed that UFOs had provided "sonic engineering secrets"
that were helpful to the U.S. government.

April 19, 1999 - Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles was
placed on the disabled list for the first time in his 19-year career. He was
suffering from a back problem.

April 19-20, 2002 – The Mockingbird Players of Monroeville
performed “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile, sponsored
by the Mobile Bar Association.

April 19, 2003 – Raoul Finelon established the first ever
geocache in Monroe County, “Boo Radley’s Surprise,” on The Square in downtown
Monroeville, Ala.

April 19, 2003 – Army Sgt. Troy Jenkins, 25, assigned to B
Co., 3rd Bat., 187th Inf. Reg. based in Fort Campbell, Ky.; was wounded by an
explosion while on a dismounted patrol with other soldiers in Iraq. He died
five days later.

April 19, 2005 – The baseball field at Monroe County High
School in Monroeville, Ala. was renamed the “Ronald M. ‘Ronnie’ Dees Baseball Field” in honor of
former coach Ronnie Dees.

April 19, 2006 – The Monch Riley Home in Andalusia, Ala. was
added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

April 19, 2009 – The Lifetime Movie Network aired “Natalee
Holloway,” a television film based on Beth Holloway's book “Loving Natalee.”Starring Tracy Pollan as Beth Holloway-Twitty, Grant Show as George
"Jug" Twitty, Amy Gumenick as Natalee Holloway and Jacques Strydom as
Joran van der Sloot, the film retells events leading up to the night of
Holloway's disappearance in 2005, and the ensuing investigation in the
aftermath.